I Think One Of The Big Strengths Of Fanfiction As A Medium Is That It Can, On Average, Assume The Reader

I think one of the big strengths of fanfiction as a medium is that it can, on average, assume the reader has a way higher degree of familiarity with canon than like…canon can. If you’re in the Star Wars AO3 tag you probably like Star Wars enough to remember more things about it than the average Star Wars-enjoying-ten-year-old. Which makes it way easier for fanwriter a to get to the juicy stuff and really engage with the worldbuilding or minor characters without having to spell out like. Who Wedge Antilles is for everyone who forgot or never noticed him in the first place. You could write a book about Wedge in the old EU because EU readers could also be assumed to be serious fans, but you can’t make a new canon Disney+ show about him. Those cost money to make and are intended for a broader audience.

And all this means that like. A good fic writer can and often will surpass canon when it comes to like. Thematic resonance and stuff, because they can really dig into something. Star Trek 2009 gave Kirk a new, more generic tragic backstory because it couldn’t expect the average moviegoer to be familiar with Kirk’s old, way more interesting tragic backstory. (Frankly, I’m not sure jj abrams knew about TOS Kirk’s backstory) whereas I have read a LOT of well-written, interesting, deeply resonant fanfic examinations of Tarsus IV, and what it means for Kirk’s character that he’s a genocide survivor. Star Trek 2009 answers the question “why did Kirk cheat on the kobayashi maru?” With “‘cause his dad crashed a spaceship when he was a baby.” A close examination of TOS canon implies the answer is “because he lived through a real-life Kobayashi that did have a win option, but which wasn’t taken.” BUT—and this is significant—even the TOS canon movies can’t really assume knowledge of the full TOS tv show, so that implication is never examined or made explicit. Instead it’s fanfic (and maybe spin off novels? Idk I’ve only read 2 trek books, if there’s one out there that covers this that would be really cool) where we get dives into that thread, where Kirk gets a commendation for original thinking because he can look a testing board in the eye and say “I’ve seen what happens when someone is entrenched in this kind of thinking, and I cannot let it happen to me. I understand the lesson, but it’s not hypothetical anymore and it never will be. I did what I had to do.” And that’s interesting! That’s meaningful! That can’t happen in a summer blockbuster. But it can happen in fic, easily, and that’s a strength of fic, I think.

More Posts from Raysreads and Others

1 year ago

my favorite part of Crowley’s confession scene is how an immortal being with no need to have a body or breathe somehow managed to work himself into a very respectable level of hyperventilating

2 years ago
“…food And Love - Which Is Of Course The Same Thing.”
“…food And Love - Which Is Of Course The Same Thing.”
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“…food And Love - Which Is Of Course The Same Thing.”
“…food And Love - Which Is Of Course The Same Thing.”
“…food And Love - Which Is Of Course The Same Thing.”
“…food And Love - Which Is Of Course The Same Thing.”
“…food And Love - Which Is Of Course The Same Thing.”

“…food and love - which is of course the same thing.”

Daniel J. Miller, “The Touch of Love - It Is Everything” / this post / “Joe Pera Shows You How To Pack A Lunch Box” (2020) / a text from my sister / A. A. Milne / @chennai-expression / Chef (2014) dir. Jon Favreau / Sam Sifton, “What to Cook Right Now” (New York Times) / Alan Alda

1 year ago
Sherlock And Mycroft Holmes Attend Regular-people School For One Year As Children. 
Sherlock And Mycroft Holmes Attend Regular-people School For One Year As Children. 
Sherlock And Mycroft Holmes Attend Regular-people School For One Year As Children. 
Sherlock And Mycroft Holmes Attend Regular-people School For One Year As Children. 
Sherlock And Mycroft Holmes Attend Regular-people School For One Year As Children. 
Sherlock And Mycroft Holmes Attend Regular-people School For One Year As Children. 
Sherlock And Mycroft Holmes Attend Regular-people School For One Year As Children. 

Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes attend regular-people school for one year as children. 

Great shenanigans ensue.

Do not use without my permission.

1 year ago
Saddest Fucking Tag I've Ever Seen In My Life. Why Not Just Cut Off His Dick While You're At It

saddest fucking tag i've ever seen in my life. why not just cut off his dick while you're at it

11 months ago

“So you’re telling me you can’t die?” “No, I’m telling you I can’t stay dead. There’s a difference, Trust me.”

1 year ago

i like imagining that makoto and kusuke are tangentially Aware of each other’s existence due to both being extremely famous people, but that neither care enough to actually look into who the other person is. so one day they meet at some event (maybe they’re giving kusuke a nobel peace prize and makoto is there for Reasons or something. or maybe kusuke is designing the pyrotechnics they’re using as special effects in makoto’s new movie) and get to talking and realize. oh my god. this is the most annoying, abrasive, creepy weirdo i’ve ever met. i hate this guy. then they go home to cyberstalk google each other and realize their siblings are friends and immediately begin having some of the craziest celebrity beef of all time. nobody can figure out why celebrated british scientist Dr. Kusuke Saiki is suddenly shit-talking japanese pop idol Mugami Toru to the press, and furthermore, why Mugami Toru seems to hate him just as much, if not more.

then one day, seemingly out of the blue, they get photographed kissing at a private expensive resort by paparazzi and the media lose it

2 years ago

Happy Belated Birthday, Sev! 🎉

Happy Belated Birthday, Sev! 🎉
Happy Belated Birthday, Sev! 🎉
1 year ago
Anyone Else Relate

anyone else relate

2 years ago

Modern AU where Joe is a secret agent who keeps thinking about backer Nicky because during a very dangerous mission he had to hide in Nicky’s bakery and the other, after seeing him with a knife in his hand and a gun in the back pocket of his pants, only said: “Please do this outside of my shop.” No “What are are you doing with a gun?”, or “Please don’t kill me.” Joe can’t stop replaying in his mind Nicky’s blue eyes looking back at him levelly as he said he didn’t want murder in his establishment. Nicky must be insane, he decides.

He goes back to the bakery and becomes a silent regular (Nile thinks he’s trying to woo Nicky by staring at him very hard) until he snaps and asks: “Would you have been ok with me killing someone outside of your bakery???” And Nicky, hands still covered in flour because it’s 5am and Joe is there, part of the fam by now, says: “First of all, you didn’t kill that man. You preferred keeping your knife with you for self defence and kept the gun in your pocket. You also seemed very nice and good with kids, so I thought you must have good reasons for running away from that man. I figured if I was wrong and you were a bad person you would have killed me anyway, the blood on the wall would have been my last problem. And you did listen. I heard you hit the man in the back alley and it was a good punch. Is he still alive?”

Joe blinks. Is this how Quỳnh felt when Andy told her what her real job was? Like meeting an entirely new, very intriguing type of human being? “He is in jail. He’ll stay there for a long time.”

“Okay,” Nicky nods. “So you won’t bring crime or violence to my establishment?” He asks again. His accent jumps out when he’s hiding that he’s nervous. He looks.. hopeful, Joe decides. Very interested in Joe’s answer.

“I’ll try to clean my shoes from the blood next time.”

Nicky slowly smiles. It’s like watching a new type of natural phenomenon occur in front of his eyes for the first time. Incomprehensible, awe-inspiring, overall beautiful.

“You guys are so weird,” Sebastien says. He’s the regular coming to the bakery at 6am every day and Joe suspects he’s a hacker wanted in more than 26 countries. That, or he’s B00ker’s law abiding doppelgänger. Nicky never fails to have some croissants ready for Sebastien.

“Good luck with your big job,” Nicky tells Sebastien as he hands him the baked goods. “Just don’t use the shop’s wi-fi, last time was a nightmare.”

Joe wants to study Nicky with a microscope. (Or kiss him. Or both.)

1 year ago

masterpost of horror lists

here are all my horror lists in one place to make it easier to find! enjoy!

sub-genres

action horror

analog horror

animated horror

anthology horror

aquatic horror

apocalyptic horror

backwoods horror

campy horror

children’s horror

comedy horror

coming-of-age horror

corporate/work place horror

cult horror

dance horror

daylight horror

death games

domestic horror

ecological horror

erotic horror

experimental horror

fairytale horror

folk horror

found footage horror

giallo horror

gothic horror

historical horror

holiday horror

home invasion horror

house horror

indie horror

isolation horror

lgbtqia+ horror

lovecraftian/cosmic horror

medical horror

meta horror

monster horror

musical horror

mythological horror

neo-monster horror

new french extremity horror

paranormal horror

psychedelic horror

psychological horror

religious horror

revenge horror

romantic horror

sad/dramatic horror (i think??)

science fiction horror

slasher

southern gothic horror

splatter/body horror

survival horror

techno-horror

vampire horror

virus horror

werewolf horror

western horror

witch horror

zombie horror

horror plots/settings

road trip horror

summer camp horror

cave horror

doll horror

plot devices

storm horror

from a child’s perspective

final girl/guy (this is slasher horror trope)

last guy/girl (this is different than final girl/guy)

reality-bending horror

slow burn horror

foreign horror or non-american horror

african horror

spanish horror

middle eastern horror

korean horror

japanese horror

british horror

german horror

indian horror

decades

silent era

30s horror

40s horror

50s horror

60s horror

70s horror

80s horror

90s horror

2000s horror

2010s horror

2020s horror

companies/services

blumhouse horror

a24 horror

ghosthouse horror

shudder horror

other lists

horror literature to movies

video game to horror movie adaption

video nasties

female directed horror

my 130 favorite horror movies

horror movies critics hated because they’re stupid

horror remakes/sequels that weren’t bad

female villains in horror

horror movies so bad they’re good

non-horror movies that feel like horror movies

directors + their favorite horror movies + directors in the notes

tumblr’s favorite horror movie (based off my poll)

horror movie plot twists

cult classic horror movies

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raysreads - Leafing Through Pages
Leafing Through Pages

A Place where I dump all my thoughts on Books, Movies, Tv shows and any Fandom I end up involved in along the way. Favorite Characters include: Percy Weasley, Regulus Black, Dionysus, Mycroft Holmes, the 12th Doctor, Bruce Banner and many More.

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